Our History

Saudi Aramco History

The roots of Saudi Aramco go back nearly seven decades. In 1933, shortly after Saudi Arabia was unified, the Government granted a concession to Standard Oil of California who recognized the potential of oil as a valuable export commodity and a source of revenue to begin building our nation. Standard Oil of California, the parent company of Chevron, was joined later by several other major oil companies and the venture became known as Aramco - the Arabian American Oil Company. In 1938, after five long years of exploration, oil was discovered in commercial volume when  a well named Dammam Number 7, near today's headquarters in Dhahran, began to flow -- and ushered in a new era for Saudi Arabia. Things moved quickly, and in 1939 King 'Abd al-'Aziz visited Ras Tanura to inaugurate the first shipload of Saudi crude oil ever exported. The young Kingdom was now officially launched into the international petroleum industry.

Timeline Details

1933

Saudi Arabia grants oil concession to California Arabian Standard Oil Company (Casoc), affiliate of Standard Oil of California (Socal, today's Chevron). Oil prospecting begins on Kingdom's east coast.

1936

Texas Company (known as Texaco, now part of Chevron) acquires 50 percent interest in Socal's concession.

1938

Kingdom's first commercial oil field discovered at Dhahran. Crude is exported by barge to Bahrain.

1939

First tanker load of petroleum is exported.

1944

Casoc changes its name to Arabian American Oil Company (Aramco).

1945

Ras Tanura Refinery begins operations.

1948

Standard Oil of New Jersey and Socony-Vacuum Oil (both now Exxon Mobil) join Socal and Texaco as owners of Aramco.

1950

1,700km Trans-Arabian Pipe Line (Tapline) is completed, linking Eastern Province oil fields to Lebanon and the Mediterranean.

1951

Safaniya field, the world's largest offshore oil field is discovered.

1956

Aramco confirms scale of Ghawar and Safaniya, world's largest oil field and largest offshore field, respectively.

1961

Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) - propane and butane - is first processed at Ras Tanura and shipped to customers.

1966

Tankers begin calling at "Sea Island," new offshore crude oil loading platform off Ras Tanura.

1973

Saudi Arabia's Government acquires a 25 percent participation interest in Aramco.

1975

Master Gas System project is launched.

1980

Saudi Government acquires 100 percent participation interest in Aramco, purchasing almost all of the company's assets.

1981

East-West Pipelines, built for Aramco's natural gas liquids (NGL)and crude oil, link the Eastern Province with Yanbu' on Red Sea.

1982

Exploration and Petroleum Engineering Center (EXPEC) opens in Dhahran.

1984

Company acquires its first four supertankers.

1987

East-West Crude Oil Pipeline expansion is completed, boosting capacity to 3.2 million barrels per day (bpd).

1988

Saudi Arabian Oil Company, or Saudi Aramco, is established.

1989

High-quality oil and gas are discovered south of Riyadh, the first find outside the company's original operating area. Saudi Aramco and Texaco launch the Star Enterprise refining and marketing joint venture.

1991

Company plays major role combating the Gulf oil spill.

1992

East-West Crude Oil Pipeline capacity boosted to 5 million bpd. Saudi Aramco affiliate purchases 35 percent interest in SsangYong Oil Refining Company (now S-Oil Corporation) of the Republic of Korea.

1993

Saudi Aramco takes charge of Kingdom's domestic refining, marketing, distribution and joint-venture refining interests.

1994

Maximum sustained crude-oil production capacity is returned to 10 million bpd. Company acquires a 40 percent equity interest in Petron, largest refiner in the Philippines.

1995

Company completes program to build 15 very large crude carriers. Saudi Aramco President and CEO Ali I. Al-Naimi is named Kingdom's Minister of Petroleum and Mineral Resources.

1996

Saudi Aramco acquires 50 percent of Motor Oil (Hellas) Corinth Refineries and Avinoil. Company also assumes controlling interest in two Jiddah-based lubricants companies, now known as Saudi Aramco Lubricating Oil Refining Company (Luberef) and Saudi Arabian Lubricating Oil Company (Petrolube).

1998

Saudi Aramco, Texaco and Shell establish Motiva Enterprises LLC, a major refining and marketing joint venture in the southern and eastern United States.

1999

HRH Crown Prince 'Abd Allah inaugurates the Shaybah field in the Rub' al-Khali desert, one of the largest projects of its kind in the world goes on stream.

The Dhahran-Riyadh-Qasim multi-product pipeline and the Ras Tanura Upgrade project are completed.

The second Saudi Aramco-Mobil lubricating oil refinery (Luberef II) in Yanbu' commences operations.

2000

Petroleum Intelligence Weekly ranks the company No.1 in the world for the 11th straight year, based on the Kingdom's crude oil reserves and production.

Aramco Gulf Operations Limited is established to assume management of the government's petroleum interest in the Offshore Neutral Zone between Saudi Arabia and Kuwait.

New facilities are under construction in the Haradh and Hawiyah gas plant projects to process gas for delivery to the Master Gas System and on to domestic markets.

2001

Hawiyah Gas Plant, capable of processing up to 1.6 billion standard cubic feet per day of non-associated gas, comes on stream.

2003

Haradh Gas Plant completed two and a half months ahead of schedule.

2004

HRH Crown Prince 'Abd Allah ibn 'Abd Al-'Aziz Al Saud, First Deputy Prime Minister and Head of the National Guard, inaugurates the 800,000 barrel-per-day Qatif-Abu Sa'fah Producing Plants mega project. In addition to the crude, the plants provide 370 million standard cubic feet of associated gas daily.

2005

Saudi Aramco and Sumitomo Chemical Co., Ltd. sign a joint venture agreement for the development of a large, integrated refining and petrochemical complex in the Red Sea town of Rabigh, on Saudi Arabia's west coast.